


et fons de reditu

by girlsiez



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/F, im sorry, its about the y e a r n i n g
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 04:27:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsiez/pseuds/girlsiez
Summary: it's basically the fic i wanted to read but couldn't because it wasn't written. inspired by the leo and calypso part of house of hades.





	et fons de reditu

She hadn’t expected for Orpheus to show up.

When Hades had condemned her to life alone or what not, Eurydice had thought it would be more of “here’s an island, there’s what you need to live, no one will ever see you again, go fuck yourself” sort of situation. It wasn’t a bad island or anything, she’d just prefer to be literally anywhere else in the world. Hell, even the dim stench of Hadestown would be better than solitude. 

The solitude did not last long. As if to play with her heart, the king of Hell had been sending men to her for as long as she could recall and just when she’d finally fallen for them, they’d be taken away. All she had to remember them by was her own memory, failing with time. 

Eventually she became numb to the cycle. Of course, Eurydice had tried to hide her apathy but after centuries, the woman had broken down, unable to fall in love with the current man enough for Hades to justify damage done. 

The visitors stopped after that. As grateful as she felt to finally be left alone, she missed their company.

She’d shown up several years into Eurydice’s stay on the island with little to no grace. The poor girl came with a broken guitar (along with multiple body parts) and, as she explained, a quest to save spring with her poetry.

Eurydice refused to let the girl into her heart. As she stalked away from the beach Orpheus followed, teasing her about how cold she was despite the radiant heat that seemed to spring from everything on the island. Although limping from injuries that came with crash-landing in the sand, the poet kept her pace up, asking Eurydice meaningless questions about herself.

As the days began turning into weeks, Orpheus started to worry about if she was going to go home. She’d pester Eurydice about why she hadn’t been returned home or how she would even leave.

Eurydice didn’t have the heart to tell her that she couldn’t. The poor girl refused to fall in love and with this, trapped her.

The two decided to stay separate. Orpheus could work on her song and Eurydice could ignore the ache in her heart better when she wasn’t around. 

It was the hurt she didn’t understand. She knew she’d felt this way for men before, more than she remembered. The ones with the smile that made her weak and the eyes that made her stomach churn and countless others who’d made a home in her heart and took pieces of it with them when they left. Some said they’d do all they could to stay but when the opportunity came, they would leave with little more than a kiss. The hurt came when she realized how the men would be as sweet as molasses until their love for her would rot and she’d be abandoned once again just to begin the cycle. 

But Orpheus was a new hurt. When she smiled, everything lit up and Eurydice hated it. Her song carried through the woods, the simple sweet melody piercing her heart and thawing it. There was no vicious intent behind her eyes.

In half of a year, Eurydice invited her to come back and sleep in the small cottage she’d made for herself. Orpheus accepted. She could now hear the girl’s melody loud and clear.

In the blink of an eye, her song disappeared. And so did she.

Eurydice cried that night. She’d let herself fall in love with Orpheus. Against everything she’d done to prevent it, Hades knew and took her away. The one good thing that had ever come to her was gone. 

But time healed. It wasn’t uncommon for her to hum the melody while gardening or cooking or as she was going to sleep. When walking through the woods she found Orpheus’s handkerchief. After that it never left her person.

No person showed up. 

A year passed. Eurydice had forgotten all of Orpheus’s songs except the wordless tune she carried. How it felt to hold another’s hand in her own was a mystery.

Still no person showed up.

Two years. She’d forgotten Orpheus’s smile and her laugh. The handkerchief was almost rags, a just a soft red fabric as the pattern had been worn off from its constant wear. 

Hades still did not send anyone. 

After three years Eurydice could barely remember Orpheus. Her handkerchief was lost to a storm. Her tune a distant memory. All she had in Eurydice’s heart and mind were a name and a feeling. 

Forgetting was a blessing and a curse. Hades began sending new men. It was always men. In a cruel twist of irony, he seemed to not want to hurt her as much as he had with Orpheus. 

The monotony of men distracted Eurydice. She would still sing the melody but she forgot who it belonged to. Orpheus was a hazy blur of happiness that she couldn’t name. Within the next few decades she loved dozens of men, none of whom matched up to the exhilarating thrill of remembering that girl and her guitar. 

Her sentence was over. Hades deemed her a broken woman and released her back to the mortal earth. Eurydice felt a sense of purpose come over her, beginning with a song. She travelled from town to town, singing in an off-key voice the melody she recalled.

It took her many years to find the owner. 

Orpheus had never forgotten Eurydice. She hadn’t taken another lover even well into her old age, knowing that one day the girl on the island would return to her. 

Eurydice knocked softly on the door, hoping and praying Orpheus was there. A friend of hers opened the door instead, immediately letting her in after she managed to get out her name. Instructed to go to the bedroom, Eurydice was unprepared for the sight she came upon.

Orpheus was in bed. Her old age had gotten better of her, weakening the once lively poet to the point of being unable to move. She could barely speak but managed to whisper out Eurydice’s name, beckoning her to the bed. 

The two reunited. Eurydice held her only love tightly for hours without words, simply rejoicing in having finally found her. 

A coughing fit separated them. It lasted a long time, too long for Eurydice’s comfort. She rejoined Orpheus’s side to whisper sweet nothings in her ear but she was stopped as Orpheus spoke. 

It took her a moment to find the words, her consciousness was slipping from her and soon so would her life. Tears began falling down Eurydice’s face but they didn’t drop. 

Orpheus cupped the woman’s cheeks, wiping away her tears. 

“Look. I brought back spring.”

**Author's Note:**

> the title means 'the return of spring.' yes, this made me cry while i was writing it. comments and kudos are appreciated and what will motivate me to write more (hopefully not as sad) stories! i'm @girlsiez on tumblr.


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